David Jacques, former head of the AA Garden Conservation, remembers Edward (Ted) Fawcett, the founder of the course who died on 19 October 2013 aged 93.
"Edward Charles Richard Fawcett came to prominence in 1969 when he was appointed the National Trust’s first Director of Public Relations. He was responsible for expanding the membership greatly, and taking the measures (including the shops) for handling a huge increase in visitor numbers, especially to its gardens. Retiring in 1984 with an OBE, he pursued his great private interest in historic gardens, getting involved at Chiswick, Osterley and in the Garden History Society.
His wife Jane, who was teaching on the AA Building Conservation course at the time, suggested to Alvin Boyarsky, AA Chairman, that Ted might run a complementary course in historic garden conservation. Garden history and garden conservation were rapidly expanding topics, and the course, starting in 1986, was the world’s first of its sort. As with Building Conservation, the course was one day per week over 2 years. Ted’s extensive network in that world paid off in the huge variety of lecturers, and the course thrived.
By the late 1990s it was clear that the course needed accreditation, and it first became a Postgraduate Diploma and then an MA. Meanwhile Ted retired again, aged 80, handing over to David Jacques.
Ted stood for an important shift in the status of garden history and conservation from an amateur pastime to a professional discipline. Possessed of great charm and powers of persuasion, Ted inspired not only a generation at the National Trust but also on his course. Scores of his students currently occupy positions in English Heritage, the Lottery Fund, local authorities, consultancies and academia; others are authors of note.
He is survived by his wife Jane."